We Need To Talk!

Dear Readers and Friends!

Many of you have confessed to sharing with me a certain frustration with the dismal state of American public discourse. However you describe it (“ideological bubbles” “political correctness” “sound and fury signifying nothing”) it is a problem nationally, within our communities and our churches, even within our own families.

Having spent a year or two cursing the darkness, I joined forces with my friend and co-conspirator Mel Pine to create a blog called <a href="https://trulyopenmindsandhearts.blog/" title="Truly Open Minds and Hearts".

KateBraestrup.com will still be the place to go to find out about my writing events and other news, but Mel and I hope that Truly Open Minds and Hearts (I call it To-moh or "Toe-Moe" in my mind) will serve as a genuinely inclusive platform for civil, fearless, friendly discussion about things that matter—to us, to you, to our country and our world.

We will begin by posting essays on topics of interest to us once a week or so, in the hope these will prove interesting enough to inspire comments and discussion. We proceed in the confidence that disagreement is not a disaster, and that the “ free and responsible search for truth and meaning” that has been the calling card of Unitarian Universalism is and ought to be a challenge. It is, nonetheless, worthwhile, indeed, crucial. Not to mention, dare we say it, fun!

To keep it fun, we’ve created and posted a Code of Conduct that all of us will endeavor to follow (keep it civil, play the person not the ball, no profanity, no shouting-in-CAPS…)

There will be worship resources (poems and prayers), links to articles on the world-wide web that caught our attention or challenged our minds, and —we fervently hope—your thoughts, ideas, poems, discoveries and stories.

Please consider pitching in—if you have something to say and especially if you have found yourself stymied and blocked of late, think about contributing to TOMOH.

There are instructions for proposing and submitting your stuff on the site.

Bless you all!
Kate